In Finland, your fine is set by your payslip

In 2015, Finnish businessman Reima Kuisla was caught doing 103 km/h where the limit was 80. The fine: 54,024 euros. A few years earlier, a Nokia executive had paid around 116,000 for speeding on his motorbike. Neither could claim a clerical error, because there was none: in Finland, serious fines are calculated on your income.

The system is called the "day fine" and dates from 1921. The logic: a flat penalty doesn't punish equally. 200 euros can ruin a waiter's week and be a tip for a millionaire; the same figure buys two different punishments. So the judge doesn't hand down euros, he hands down days: so many fine-days depending on the severity of the offence. And each day is worth, roughly, half of what you earn daily, with deductions for dependent children.

The result is that the pain, not the amount, is the same for everyone. Denmark, Sweden, Switzerland and Germany copied the idea. And every now and then, a Finnish headline reminds the world that over there, speeding in a sports car is, literally, a luxury.